~ ~~ An action of Occupy Wall Street

Monthly Archives: October 2012

As far as I know at this point all members of Occupy Trinity and Occupy Goldman-Sachs are alive and well. I am in Brooklyn, and the bridges and subways are still closed so we here cannot yet get into Manhattan. There is word out there that the bridges may be opened at 5pm. We will stay on that, and when we can we will return to the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. Until then, I have been thinking about why we occupy. I think it is good to remember why we came here to occupy in the first place. It is good to remember what brought us all here. To that end here is the declaration of the New York City General Assembly:

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011, with minor updates made on October 1, 2011. It is the first official, collective statement of the protesters in Zuccotti Park.

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

We have all evacuated to safe places for the incoming hurricane. Once before we left the action at OccupyTrinity, but that was only for a matter of hours during a wind & rain storm. This time it may be a matter of days but we will be back once the state of emergency is lifted.

The Occupy Goldman-Sachs action will continue through the storm. We will support them in every way we can.

The last couple of days the NYPD have been sending in new White Shirts. These new guys walk up and down the line as if they are inspecting their troops. “Your cardboard is over the line, Occupier!” “Hold that sign, Occupier!” “Is that your property, Occupier?” “Comply or be arrested, Occupier!” These inspections can come anytime, though there is a pattern to them usually. People are creatures of habit, after all. It is on these inspection visits that the danger of property, signs and cardboard being taken is the greatest (aside from when we are sleeping). Arrests happen at these times also.

This morning they had a special treat for us. At 7am, hose down time, they woke us up by blasting teenage pop music at us. <shudder> It was horrible torture.

Sorry, I have to go. No time. Gotta go. Here’s the info for the joint action with Occupy Nigeria.

We were our own worst enemy last night. Solidarity, unity and co-operation have to be more than words — they must be actions. When people among us have been causing troubles and hostilities, and no amount of discussion with them produces any change in behaviours, we have no choice but to shun them. The safety, growth and effectiveness of the group and the Movement depend on everyone maintaining a creative space, not a destructive one. We have identified a few people, who through their continued unethical behaviours are a danger to the group and the individuals within the group. Several times we have had meetings and consensed that we must not make these people welcome unless they change their behaviours. Yet, all one of these troublemakers has to do to get a welcome is offer to buy alcohol for a few of us — the few of us concerned more about themselves than the group or the Movement.

The NYPD will not intervene when these troublemakers are causing a ruckus on the sidewalk. The cops will not intervene until someone they want to arrest gets involved — and then they arrest that one, leaving the instigator alone. Of course, we know the NYPD spares no expense to pay street people to join us and cause trouble. A recent news story highlighted a 19-year old the NYPD was giving $1,000 a month to for baiting muslims. We have our own NYPD-paid instigators. We have known them for a long time now. It is time we rose up against them in solidarity and co-operation. If you spread a message of violence, hate and/or easy money then we need to exclude you from our community. You need help, more help than we can provide at this time because the NYPD prevents us from freely assembling.

So, because we cannot freely assemble we spent the evening shouting accusations at each other while the real instigators got a free pass. The NYPD did not hassle us last night — no surprise there as their paid instigators got us to hassle ourselves.

Back to basics: We have an urgent need for three sleeping bags, three tarps, and three backpacks. As well, we need wool socks, wool gloves, wool caps, hand warmers and raingear. I could use a pair of size 9 high-top canvas sneakers — they are the only type of shoe that my feet like. My current sneakers have huge holes in them. I tried a pair of ground-score size 9 leather Nikes but developed blisters, pains and a serious limp within a single day.

Another joint Occupy Nigeria/Occupy Wall Street action is being planned. Fatima and I have been asked to be two of the speakers. This action is primarily in response to the recent lynchings of four students. For photos of our last joint action please visit this link. More info on this action soon.

Last night we had a small cardboard war — me vs the NYPD. Sometime around midnight the NYPD came through in force and, without a word, starting grabbing signs, loose cardboard and my cardboard bedding. For some reason they don’t want me to have cardboard bedding even though nearly everyone else here uses cardboard for bedding.

Anyway, their raid ruffled my feathers and I protested loudly for the next couple hours. As soon as the extra backup cops left I went out and got some more cardboard for bedding and signs. As I started making signs and placing them out on the sidewalk, the backup cops came back and snatched my signs and bedding again — also without a word spoken even though I was in their faces belittling them for this immature action of theirs.

The backup cops hung around for a while this time, and I knew if I went for more cardboard while they were around they would swoop in and take my property & medical supplies. While I can carry everything I have, it is unwieldy and uncomfortable. If I only had to worry about my personal property it would all fit in my backpack. But I have to maintain enough medical supplies for any emergency and any continuing care problem.

As soon as they left I salvaged another stack of cardboard from the neighborhood. This time I didn’t bother with using any for bedding — instead I just made a lot of signs. I even made little, baby signs just big enough to hold one word — “Occupy”. I placed the signs all up and down the sidewalk, on both sides. As soon as I finished the backup cops came back. They picked up all the signs. They missed only two baby signs — one was given to Rami (from Occupy Wall St.) for his archive, and the other was given to a visiting occupier from Occupy Oakland.

There was a little conversation this third time, however. When they were done picking up the signs one of the cops came over, and in a frustrated demeanor asked why I kept putting signs up when I knew they would just come back and take them down. I asked why they were taking our protest signs, which are protected by constitutional law in three ways: freedom of speech, artwork, and personal property. He had no answer.

By this time it was late, I was tired, so to sleep I went. In the morning we were woken up by the NYPD just a few minutes before the hosedown. My usual routine is to have a coffee in my occupied space and wait for the hoser to reach my area before moving. Today the NYPD would not let me wait. The White Shirt (not recognized, and I couldn’t read his name tag) angrily, with expressive movements of his arms and invading my personal space with his body, demanded I move. I recognized the behaviour as a White Shirt about to order an arrest, and so I emptied my half-cup of coffee on the sidewalk, picked up my gear and left. Captain Papamichael (aka Hooker Cop, aka Lollipop Cop) thought about stopping me, she called me by name telling me I had littered, but I just ignored her and kept walking.

During the morning round-up we found that, once again, the NYPD had stolen our food sometime during the night. The NYPD are accomplished thieves — they deserve a medal for their sneakiness.

These juvenile games are ridiculous. The seriousness of all the different local, national and global crises facing us demand our full attention and resources. Stop resisting, Mayor Bloomberg! Occupy Wall Street will not be deterred. This occupation is not leaving. Stealing our cardboard signs and our food just highlights that you are the Bad Guys, and strengthens our resolve.

Oh, I have a question for Bloomberg and Kelly — why are NYPD detectives and the Downtown Alliance being sent out to take pictures of homeless people? Why are these pictures being collected? Why did Bloomberg order Kelly to arrest a certain 20 of these homeless people on sight? And why were these particular 20 chosen at this time? The answers to these and other questions we continually ask would spell the end for both Bloomberg and Kelly. Is anyone listening? Do any of the sheeple care? All our rights as citizens of these United States are being shredded, trampled and eradicated. Where is everyone? Has the Zombie Apocalypse joke become a Sheeple Apocalypse reality?

After writing the earlier blog post I walked to a little park overlooked by the secret NYPD Anti-Terrorism HQ.

Oops! Was it really secret?

Anyway, I went there for a little solitude, reflection and meditation before returning to Occupy Trinity. When I got to Occupy Trinity, under mostly blue sky, the outstanding event happening was the steady stream of water descending from the newly drilled holes in the scaffolding. The unexpected waterfall was puzzling passersby, who would look out to the dry street and sidewalk outside the scaffolding, and then back to the splattering shower under the scaffolding with questioning looks. The sinful stream held no wonder for me, however, as the target of the downpour is my occupied space — my sleeping area and my medical space.

Fatima (from Occupy Wall St.) told me the workers were atop the scaffolding with brooms pushing the water (and filth from the tower renovation) to the holes over my space. She said the Occupiers on the sidewalk could hear the workers laughing as they worked. I am grateful they have a job they are so enthusiastic about. If they are real construction workers — we’ve noticed that one of the hose-guys also appears once in a while as a Securitas guard. Is he either, both, or none of the above? — should be commended for going over and above the call of duty and receive a community award of some sort.

These juvenile antics by Trinity Wall Street Church/Real Estate Corporation will not deter me, nor will it deter Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Trinity action.

You know what’s funny? When the sub-contractors hose down the sidewalk they use bleach, ammonia and windex. What a laugh, right? The workers think so. They were laughing about it during last night’s hosedown. Of course, we know what ammonia and bleach mixed together make, don’t we? If you don’t, then please click on the this link and LEARN SOMETHING. I do not think it is funny at all — in fact, I think it is intentional violence intended to harm us.

I will also point out that I have previously approached the worker pouring the chemicals onto the sidewalk and asked him what they were, and what, if any, were the health warnings of whatever products he was using. His response? “Don’t worry. It’s safe.” When I pressured him to tell me what it was he was using, explaining I am a medic and concerned about Occupier health, he ignored me and walked away.

The NYPD stole I.B.’s property yesterday. It was the third or fourth time for I.B. (from Occupy Wall St.), who runs our Info Station. They took everything he had, swooping in while I.B. made a restroom trip. I was 10 feet away, but the police moved so fast that by the time I heard them and turned around they were already running to the trunk of their car to stash I.B.’s stuff and drive off. I have never seen them move so fast — they must have targeted him, and were waiting for their opportunity. When the NYPD steals unattended proerty from us they destroy it. All of I.B.’s personal property is gone. A majority of our Info stuff is gone (Dre (from Occupy Wall St.) runs a smaller Info Station).

This is only one account — all of us have had property stolen by the NYPD. Most of us have lost everythingat one time or another. Stay here and occupy for more than a week and you too will be a victim of the New York Perpetrator Department. Stay for a day and you will find out the Trinity Wall Street definition of Christian works . . . Fire CEO James Cooper! Fire Chief Ray Kelly! Fire Mayor Michael Bloomberg! Then arrest all three of them.

What exactly do I mean when I write that we are being harrassed? Well . . . yesterday Brian (from Occupy Wall St.) was sleeping in his sleeping bag when he was awoken on orders by Winski’s Evil Twin (Timmoney . . . as if Winski isn’t evil enough!). Seems Brian was “sleeping in his sleeping bag the wrong way”. (???) I passed by Brian just before Timmoney got there, and Brian was zipped up and proper. Later we found out that being zipped up was the “wrong way”. Who knew?

Being woken up wasn’t all that happened to Brian. He was dragged out of his sleeping bag by a couple Blue Shirts. He resisted slightly, justifiably angrily, and because of that he was beaten by more than 6 Blue Shirts. His face was slammed into the marble building, then he was thrown on the sidewalk, his face smashed into the concrete. At one point he yelled for the police not to stand on his legs (having been subjected to that before) — at which point one Blue Shirt promptly stood on his ankles. In the ensuing struggle his pants came off. There was a large crowd of gawkers, and he was held immobile and naked from the waist to his ankles. All the Occupiers there were yelling for the police to pull his pants up and stop beating him, but the police did not listen or comply. They kept him half-naked for several minutes before restoring his pants to their proper place. He was taken to Bellevue, and we have not heard anything about his status at this point. You can be sure of one thing: the original charge of sleeping the wrong way in a sleeping bag will not be in the police report.

Last night I was told that if I used cardboard as my bedding I would be “taken in” (i.e. arrested). That others, most others, were using cardboard as bedding didn’t matter. If I used that terrorist weapon of mass destruction, cardboard, I would be arrested. I argued, but complied — it being after midnight and I needed sleep (which wouldn’t come until 4am, only to be woken at 5:30am for the 7:00am hosedown).

It didn’t stop at the cardboard. I have Victoria from Occupy D.C. to thank for still having my current property — on a trip to the men’s room the police swooped in to take my property and trash it, but Victoria got to it first. When I got back I was warned by the Blue Shirts, twice, that if I left any property unattended they would immediately take it. Of course, “unattended” is strictly defined by the NYPD as “not being held.” Even then, sometimes standing on your property is not enough “attending” — as I have twice found out. I am also fairly sure the NYPD stole my socks the other night while I was sleeping . . . they are always pulling juvenile stunts like that.

Another kind of harrassment came from Trinity this morning. After the morning hosedown workers climbed atop the scaffolding and drilled holes all along its length directly above where we occupy. Then, not content with waiting for the rain, they turned on the water up there and made it ‘rain’ on us in a couple spots — mine and I.B.’s (from Occupy Wall Street)(Medical and Info).

There’s more — more just from yesterday and today (like stealing all our signs and our food and our books while we slept) — but I am running out of time on this public computer. I will note that Trinity lacks three building permits for the work it is doing, and we have contacted the proper authorities about that. We’ll see if anything is done about that, or if Trinity pulls some strings and gets out of the fines and stop-work orders.

We are still there, now under three banks of lights at night that would do Yankee Stadium proud, and with enough surveillance cameras for a reality TV show. Day 137 and counting. We are Occupy Wall Street, still here, still occupying.

Lots has happened since I last wrote. There’s the Goldman-Sachs Occupation, the Halloween Propaganda War and the increased harrassment by the NYPD, Trinity Wall Street Church, the Downtown Alliance and especially Securitas.

One nice thing happened: Jenn at (Trinity’s) Charlotte’s Place helped me return an Occupier to their home. Thank you, Jenn — you are a good person.

About Halloween . . . CEO Cooper claims we Occupiers are a threat to the safety of the children, and so he has cancelled Halloween festivities at Trinity. What a joke! Doesn’t anyone remember the NYPD always stationed within 5 feet of us? Doesn’t anyone remember the 24-hour video surveillance we are subjected to? Doesn’t anyone remember we always have at least one medic on duty here? Are the police so incompetent and ineffectual that two dozen of them cannot provide a sense of safety for CEO Cooper?

We are not a threat to the children. Anyone who thinks so is a moronic idiot — a sheeple. Baa, baa. CEO Cooper just is not happy that everyone who comes to Trinity Wall Street Church is reminded by our presence that the church is in costume. Every day is Halloween here because Trinity Real Estate Corporation masquerades as a church.

It is a quiet day today — the Lollipop Cop (Papamichael) only kicked me off two (2) sidewalks before 7:30am. No arrest, and so that is good.

Excuse me, there was a three day interruption . . .

We are in the middle of an NYPD and Trinity Wall Street Church crackdown on us. The plan the last week for them has been to make us move, hose the sidewalk down, and arrest people on bogus charges. We had a high of 5 arrests in one day (Mouse, Felix, Shiloh, Gadget & myself) this past week, but no arrests the past three days here at Trinity. However, three of our Occupy Trinity people were arrested in Harlem with Occupy The ‘Hood.

This morning I spoke to the White Shirt (couldn’t get his name, still no glasses) about hosing us down and the risk of hypothermia. He was honest and said he didn’t care about our risk of hypothermia. He did say that when the temperature reaches 32 degrees F that he will move us all off the sidewalk and order us to go home, go to shelters, or bring us to the hospital. He was smiling and chuckling as he made that declaration.

We need new tactics. It is time to remind the NYPD that they are not in control.

Occupy Wall Street, all day, all week, all year, still here!

Search:

Donations Gratefully Accepted!

We desperately need monetary donations for food, clothing, medical and informational supplies. The NYPD keeps stealing our property and trying to torture us with lack of sleep, stress and daily-all-day-all-night harassment. Please go to our WePay page to donate and help us change the world for the better.